Coffee
by BornAverage
Summary: /discontinued/ They do the best they can in a small neighborhood, acting like kids in love when the sun goes down. Arnold x Helga


Titled: Coffee  
Author: I Am Fred Astaire  
Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort  
Rated: **T** for language  
Characters: Helga, Arnold (with brief cameos of Bob and Miriam, and the mentioning of Phoebe, Gerald, and the rest of the "gang")

_Author's Note: This is my first time writing for this fandom. I hope it doesn't turn out too wordy, or that Arnold and Helga seem too OOC. :\ Yeah, so, enjoy it. Tell me, if you'd like. I'd like to read some criticism (or praises; your guys' choice)._

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It was happening again. And nightfall hadn't even shown signs of appearing just yet.

The constant yelling was driving her up the wall. She just wanted to escape, even if it were for just one night. Escape from the hell-hole she grew up in. Just _one_ night to get away from her parents' bickering. It tore her up inside, the way they fought. It tore her up inside when her father couldn't even get her damn name right. It tore her up inside when they paid no acknowledgment to her achievements. It tore her up inside...when she thought of the fact that she wasn't liked by anyone. Not even her own family.

_"__Damn it, Miriam! Do you not understand the concept of-!"_

Her depressing thoughts dispersed, her frown transforming into a scowl. Deciding she had had enough of listening to her parents, she opened her bedroom window. The autumn wind blew though her room ,ruffling up a couple of her notebook pages on her desk. With a sigh, she pulled the hood of her black sweatshirt up above her head, and proceeded to climb out.

She found herself at the park. She didn't know why her feet decided to walk her over there, but they did. It was quiet, the bright orange and yellow leaves were ready to drop from their branches to join the browns that littered the floor. The scowl on her face changed back into the frown she had on earlier before. She sat herself on the park bench, arms crossed over her chest, and staring straight ahead to the tree a couple of yards away from her.

It must have been close to an hour in silence until she heard someone speak to her.

"Helga?"

Her gaze shifted towards the direction of the voice. There stood a boy to be close to 6-feet tall. His red, plaid scarf blew in the wind, as well as the yellow stalks of hair messily growing wildly on the top of his oddly-shaped head. The tiny blue infant hat sat still, as usual. His hands where in the front pockets of his own sweatshirt, and his brows were furrowed in concern.

She glared, the frown still set upon her face, "You just gonna stand there and watch me, Football-Head? Or are you here to tell me that some bozo bird had took a shit on my hood?"

He shook his head, his expression still showing concern for the angry girl before him, "Just thought to see if you were okay. I passed by here about half-an-hour ago, and you were still here. You looked, and still look, upset about something."

She inwardly melted at his kindness. She had held strong, positive feelings for him since they were 3. When she was 5, she learned those feelings were called 'love'. And yet, she kept these walls built around her, afraid if she were to let anyone in, they'd end up hurting her like her family had been doing all her life. With this, she didn't dare voice her feelings to him again (the first time being 8 years ago on the roof of the FTi building). She couldn't face his rejection; she knew that it wouldn't kill her physically, but emotionally. She'd be dead inside. She just knew it would take her at least half a lifetime to get over him, and by then she'd already be a bitter, depressed, old woman.

Sighing, she looked down to her right at the concrete, "Bob and Miriam are fighting again," she said quietly, her eyebrows scrunching up in a mixture of defeat, frustration, and sadness.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," she laughed, without humor in her voice.

She felt him sit down on the bench next to her, his gaze on the side of her face, "You wanna talk about it?"

Helga shook her head, "Not really," she grunted.

It was possible five minutes had passed between them. The sun could be seen perfectly in front of them, just as it was setting. The skies were of a purplish-blue hue that mixed with the pinks and oranges from the setting sun.

"Hey, if it isn't too late, you wanna get some coffee?"

She looked to the boy next to her, eyes showing confusion, surprise, and softness. Her heart pounded in her chest, her cheeks growing a bit pink. Was he asking her out on a _date_? No, he couldn't be. Probably just a friendly outing; trying to help her feel less sad about her parents. That seemed more logical. She shook the original thought out of her mind.

"Sure, why not?"

He gave her a small grin, "Great. If you want, we could even be out the whole night."

She laughed quietly, "Oh, definitely. Make sure you get me home before daylight."

"Whatever you say, Helga. I promise," he joked, his small grin had grew wider.

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_Author's Note: Well, this was going to be a one-shot, but...I couldn't think of a way to continue this without sounding weird. Soooo. I. Have. Decided. Thaaaat. I will make this into a multi-chapter story. Hooray. Yeah.  
I'm not very good with keeping multi-chapter stories going. I've only did that once in my lifetime of writing fanfiction since I was 11. One story only. And it wasn't even a good one. So, who knows if this will get finished._

_I sure hope it does. I'll probably just make it a three/four-shot, maybe. Just a short story._

_Oh, and be-tea-doubleyou, I forgot to mention this. This story is sort of a songfic of Copeland's "Coffee". Yeaaaah. One of the verses made me think of the HA! fandom, so I've decided to get off my lazy ass and write for it. :)  
Please tell me what you think in your review. (Which I hope you do, by the way. Review, I mean.) Just tell me how I did on my first Hey Arnold fiction.  
_


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